Hillary Anne

Hillary Anne and the team at Verse.io have long sought to help businesses engage, qualify and nurture their prospects through authentic conversations powered by real people and powerful tech. The past six years in the mortgage industry have shown that Hillary Anne is more than ready for this challenge and the wholesale channel has reaping the benefits of her team’s hard work.  
What’s a career highlight you’re most proud of? 
Honestly, leading the sales department at Verse.io has been my greatest joy.  
How has technology evolved and improved in the mortgage industry over the past decade? 
Technology has improved processes allowing the mortgage industry to take their destiny into their own hands when it comes to lead generation, opportunity development, and ultimately, closing more loans.  
What is your process for developing new services that can be most useful to the mortgage industry? 
At Verse, we are continuously optimizing our cadences and surveying our customers to find better ways to improve lead engagement and qualification for this space. We choose to tackle the most painful problems first and work our way through solutions that solve them.  
What’s the biggest obstacle you’ve faced in your career? 
Growing businesses is challenging work and comes with a fair amount of obstacles. That said, the obstacle is normally the way forward – solving the challenge brings you more than the solution itself.  
Who (or what) has shaped your leadership style? 
I’ve been incredibly lucky and have had firsthand experience with some incredible leaders over my career. I focus on empowering teams and making sure that everyone has what they need to be successful in their roles – that was what I appreciated the most and I want to give it back to those who work with me.  
What is your personal/business philosophy? 
“You can have everything in life that you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” – Z. Zigler 
What are the biggest challenges facing mortgage brokers and what’s your advice for overcoming them? 
I think for most mortgage brokers it’s the same as for most business owners – delegation. There comes a point in every business journey where you have to invest in help in order to grow. This can be challenging to single operators who aren’t used to trusting others, or who feel like they can do things better. The lesson is learning what things you like to do, and what things are best at – get rid of the rest (outsource or hire) and watch your business grow (and give them room to fail a bit while they learn!).  
What do you think is the next big step in technology/services for mortgage professionals? 
Not exactly a technology, but I think there needs to be more public awareness towards mortgage brokers and their function in the marketplace. I’m sure more consumers would choose a broker (and stop going to their bank) if they had more knowledge of the process.  
If you could go back to your first day in the industry, what advice would you give yourself? 
Start a database of industry contacts immediately. You never know who you will meet and who you may want to re-meet at a later time. It’s easy to have a CRM of leads or prospects, but having a network that you can rely on is priceless.